First Mention Of A Place Name Panholz


Reichersberg Abbey, Upper Austria

The first historic mention of Panholz known to us, occurred in 1180 in the "Traditionscodex" (#184) of the Upper Austrian Augustinian monastery Chorherrenstift Reichersberg am Inn - without reference to the geographical location of the name Panholz cited.


Oldest Panholz document known

Oldest known historic document mentioning Panholz place name and person: Gotschalc de Panholz in 1180. (reference kindly supplied by Dr. Isolde Hausner, Vienna)
"Noverint omnes christi fideles, quomodo deo devoti quatuor germani fratres, Wernher, Paldunch, Grimolt, Diether cum duabus sororibus suis Alburch et Mathilt pro remedio anime sue, datis etiam L talentis per manum domini sui comitis Hainrici urbis prefecti in pentecosten apud stòfen, tradiderunt ecclesie Richerspergensi curtim Mulberch. Huius rei testes sunt, Wernher, Paldunc, Grimolt, Diether, Alburch, Mathilt et Hainricus ipsi traditores. Preterea at alii, Ròdpertus, Wolf de Paxperch, Eglolsus de stain, Hartnit de Herefingen, Sibot de stòfe et frater eius Engelschalc, Sifrit de eigoltingen et frater eius Hartwic, Einwic de tufingen, Heinricus de Mulbach, Dietmar de tufingen et Heinricus frater eius, Gotscalch de Panholz.(l.c.No CLXXXII)

The text (the meaning of which is fairly easy to grasp even for the non-scholar) deals with a private donation of 50 Talents to the Reichersperg abbey, Gottschalk de Panholz being one of several witnesses to the deed.

Abbreviations and misspellings in the 1180 original manuscript have been "translated" in the above quoted text, taken from the "URKUNDEN-BUCH des Landes ob der Enns (hrsg. Museum Francisco Carolinum Linz, Wien k.k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei 1852, VOL I, p.41). Gotscalch is still misspelled und should probably be Gotschalc (as in Engelschalc, higher up).

Gotschalc de Panholz

Up to the 15th century, personal names in the form of Gottschalk de Panholz, ie [first name] from [domain, hamlet, village or town] were in common use, rather than the use of a "family name" composed of the place name [domain, hamlet, village or town] and the added ending "er" such as "Panholzer" ("Pichler", "Brucker" etc.). The first reference found for the "family name" Panholzer is a J. Panholzer 1394 in Tyrol (Josef Tarneller, Hofnamen im Burggrafenamt, Verl. Unterberger, 1986, S.156).

During the historical period of Old-High-German (during the early Middle Ages) the word holz (engl. "wood") was the preferred designation for a forest, rather than "wald".

A study of the linguistic roots of the name Panholzer reveals that the name most common appearance occurs in Upper Austria (East-Middle-Bairisch). In fact, this is quite visible on my mapping of these places.


Naive Guesses

Real Roots Of The Name

Panholz Place Names

Meaning of PANHOLZ

History of Bannwald

Linguistic Roots Of The Name

First Mention Of A Place

The Panholzers Of America

The Panholzers Of Austria

Map Of PANHOLZ Place Names

Related Spellings

The Bairisch Language

The Importance of Bann

Pan Mail
Sources, Credits